50 days in space
Today is the 50th day of Herschel in space. As of yesterday, 80% of the planned commissioning phase activities have been executed. The initial check-out comprises a large number of tests, including switching-on of all instruments, basic functional tests, controlled cooling of the telescope, local oscillator stability measurements by HIFI, determination of the cooler recycling hold times by PACS and SPIRE, cryo-cover opening and initial determination of the focal plane geometry following 'sneak previews' of the infrared sky by all instruments, among many other checking activities. After a (so far) flawless period of almost 2 months of Commissioning Phase, with Herschel functioning nominally, we are now looking forward to starting the Performance Verification phase activities formally, something currently expected to occur on 16 July.
[P. Garcia-Lario, HSC ESAC, posted 6 July 2009]
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